Post-outage links!

We just got out of another of our famous wind-induced power outages today in rural Itasca County. Itasca is a land of lakes and trees, two things that cause a lot of problems when the wind blows hard. So I'm back up and running ... and by running I mean surfing the Internet. You know, power company lobbyists will tell you the problem is not enough big power plants; but the truth is that this is all about wind. Where does the wind come from? Lobbyists. This may never end. (I intend to prove this theory by hiring a lobbyist to have it declared true).

The Duluth News-Tribune today features a point/counterpoint argument between two of its editorial page writers about whether the "Northland" is losing its famous work ethic. Robin Washington says we are. Chuck Frederick says we aren't. What do I think? To survive in northern Minnesota you need to work hard. Leaving for a wedding yesterday afternoon, I had to remove a large tree that had blown down along the township road where I live. Lazy people would have just turned around and watched the tube. I had a shrimp cocktail and an open bar waiting for me in Chisholm and, dammit, I moved the tree. That's the way of our people.

Meantime, also in today's Duluth News-Tribune and relevant to my Itasca County theme for the day, the Kayak lady is closing in on her goal of kayaking on all 1,006 lakes in Itasca County.

That's right. Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes (actually more than that), 1,000 of which are in the mid-sized county where I live. Tell me again why it's "better" for me to move to an expensive suburb and drive on your so-called "free"ways. I defy your twisted logic.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Twin Ports daily chopped down to twice weekly

According to the Duluth News-Tribune and others, the Superior (Wis.) Daily Telegram will drop from publishing six days a week to just twice. The paper's management insists that the Telegram will focus on online content to continue serving its readers.

Let me translate that: "Hey, Little Billy. Spot had to go away, but don't worry. He went to a farm with lots of chickens to chase and a big bed for him to sleep on."

Stories like this are going to become common in the next few years. Small daily newspapers are being forced to take drastic measures as readership and revenue decline while corporate pressures increase. But don't be fooled by one part of the story. You don't cut publication days and (soon) jobs and keep producing enough content to sustain an online newspaper. Online news sites require massive amounts of content to remain compelling and I just don't see that happening in this kind of situation. You're going to get a twice weekly with a good website, which is better than nothing, but a net loss for Superior.

The twice-weekly model can be effective for smaller newspapers. The Grand Rapids Herald-Review has been twice weekly forever and they do a reasonably good job. For a long time the paper was very profitable, too. But it's a very different kind of newspaper for those used to the regular pulse of the daily newspaper.

There is always the inevitable spin from ownership in these situations, but small town papers are hurting all over and there will be much more of this coming in the next 5-10 years.

Bergson in exile, for now

Nina Peterson-Perlman of the Duluth News-Tribune writes an interesting profile of former Duluth mayor Herb Bergson in today's edition. Bergson has tried to stay out of the public eye since leaving office, but notable findings in the story include the fact that he's writing a memoir due out in the fall and that he isn't ruling out a run for office in the future, including the House District 7B seat that opened recently. Why is he now spending his nights in the basement of a golf course clubhouse? In Floodwood? It's worth reading.

Columnist Heffernan cut loose by DNT

Yesterday I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," a novel about a man and his son searching for food and shelter in a post-apocalyptic America. They survive through sheer will, try to maintain hope despite absolutely no evidence that hope exists. Roving gangs of cannibals rule the landscape.

And, with no intent to cheapen McCarthy's great work, something about this book reminds me of today's newspaper industry.

Today, Jim Heffernan writes his last column for the Duluth News-Tribune. Management is moving in a different direction. He and I are, or were, part of a very, very small collection of writers paid specifically to maintain a column in a northern Minnesota daily newspaper. (I am a paid columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune). This is different than a reporter or editor writing a column as part of his or her job duties or from syndicated columnists who sell their work to multiple papers. Independent columnists provide a point of view that can and should be refreshingly different than the views inside the news room. Heffernan's day of reckoning came today. I know mine will come eventually. But still, we move down the road toward a hope that hope exists somewhere, in some time, in some medium.

Raise your glasses for Jim Heffernan, dean of northern Minnesota letters!

Who's in, who's out in 7B?

The DNT has a nice story about the retirement of State Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL-Duluth) today. I don't know Jaros, and I've learned that I didn't know much about his very interesting background, either. I always hear he's a good guy.

In the story, Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert, after acknowledging Jaros in the story, says he's "seriously considering" a run for the 7B seat as a DFLer. But from the tone of his comments he seems to be "super duper seriously considering it." He sounds like a candidate.

Meantime, one person mentioned as a candidate in DFL circles has sent me a press release saying he is not running: state DFL committeeman and Duluth native Kendall Killian. Killian says he is going to focus on the his job with the MAPE union and the important Presidential and U.S. Senate races for this year. He also offered the best reason for not running that I have yet to hear:

“Simply put, I cannot sacrifice the time away from my bachelor lifestyle to pursue this office,” Killian said.

Not only did Killian send me a press release saying he's not running, but he included a bio.

Kendal Killian is a native of Duluth and member of the DFL State Executive Committee. He has worked for numerous DFL campaigns and progressive causes around the state and once earned second place in the Land of the Loon loon-calling contest. Killian currently lives in the Seward neighborhood Minneapolis with no children, dogs or cats. He enjoys playing softball, biking and drinking cheap beer.

We haven't heard the last of him, me thinks.

A full 24 hours after Jaros' announcement, we have only one serious DFLer, Roger Reinert, publicly talking about running. Brandon Clokey still says he's a candidate, but has yet to file a campaign committee after announcing his candidacy six months ago. If he didn't use a six month jump on his competition to raise money and campaign, I don't see how he can win a competitive primary. In any case, we'll see what comes next.

Fishing is the pits

Iron Range mine pits ... not just for disposing of Jimmy Hoffa's body anymore*.

Sam Cook's column in today's Duluth News-Tribune explores the success of the program that stocks our abandoned, flooded mine pits with large, delicious fish.

Fishing in a mine pit is just like fishing in a lake except that if you step out of your boat during the landing process you sink 500 feet and skewer yourself on a rusty mine shovel from 1908. But hey, the fish are huge and trained to bite your hook.


* (Just a rumor ... I think?)

Life is short

Rick Weegman from the Duluth News-Tribune writes a column today about a young woman from my hometown of Cherry, Minn., who was killed in a car wreck. It's about the everyday reality of mortality, something that hits home for me since I crossed that same intersection thousands of times when I was in high school. Give it a read.

Five questions about the Iron Range economic boom

Tony Barrett, an economics professor at St. Scholastica in Duluth, poses five excellent questions about the Iron Range's prospective economic boom in today's Duluth News-Tribune. I sense on the streets and back roads of the Iron Range that people are sitting back, perhaps a bit too comfortable in the belief that good times are about to roll. There is work to do and change to come. This won't be easy. Kudos to Barrett for a concise summary of the issues ahead for the people of the Iron Range.

Wide open spaces (will build to suit)

The Duluth News-Tribune reports today on the practice of public entities building speculative buildings on the Iron Range to attract business. The appeal, according to the stories sources (all governmental), is that these buildings are modern, attractive and can be customized at public expense for any company willing to sign a long term deal that involves new jobs.

Public involvement in the economic development process remains necessary and wise. And you know I'm all about jobs and new growth on the Range. Still, I wonder why these projects always seem to favor expensive new buildings on the edge of town as opposed to the regeneration of vast amounts of empty buildings and spaces inside our Range towns. In a sense, this is a smaller scale version of the same zoning problem that many urban and exurban communities face.

And people do notice. I often provide informal "immersion counseling" for people new to the Range. One political operative new to the area noticed the same spec building discussed in today's DNT, the giant building by the Hibbing airport, on his way into town. "What's the deal with that?" was an approximation of his comment, as even this outsider could recognize the stank of economic desperation that the building seemed to kick out. The empty building has also been the subject of water cooler talk around the central Range since it was built. At $1.6 million, the investment by public entities in that building is enormous. While I understand the desire to create managed growth, I can't help but think certain buildings like this one are a little heavy on dreaming and a little light on long term planning.

I still think the best strategy for community growth includes strong, attractive infrastructure. The kinds of companies that swoop in for low-cost customized buildings are the same that can swoop out just as easily. We want to create an environment where businesses develop independently and people live comfortably and prosperously. That may sound conservative but in practice it requires some very progressive action (eg. public investment in high speed internet and comprehensive highway and rail improvements).

Smoking ban aftermath: Duluth bars holding on

The Duluth News-Tribune reported Saturday that a review of tax receipts has shown little change in the success of Duluth bars after the statewide smoking ban went into effect last year.

Tax data collected by the city of Duluth suggests that the statewide smoking ban that went into effect six months ago has not had a measurably negative impact on Duluth’s bar and restaurant business.

Anecdotal evidence from some Duluth bars supports this conclusion, as does the fact that the city clerk’s office has not seen a rise in bars going out of business.

I have long argued that the economic effect of the smoking ban on local bars can be overcome. It will take some time but these numbers are encouraging. I imagine the numbers are a little worse up on the Iron Range but once folks are used to this change in regulation folks will come back to the bars.

Pawlenty vs. Range battle running hotter

More evidence of increasingly difficult relations between Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Iron Range legislative delegation. This story is from today's Duluth News-Tribune:

ST. PAUL — House Majority Leader Tony Sertich says Gov. Tim Pawlenty erased $1.5 million in state construction projects from his district as revenge for comments he made about the Republican governor.

The Chisholm Democrat told reporters Friday that on March 14 a Pawlenty staff member called with what he said was a message from the governor: “I have a hockey analogy for you. Cheap shots are cheap, but they are not free.”

Sertich said the staffer went on to say that Pawlenty threatened to veto projects in Sertich’s northeastern Minnesota district. Earlier that day, Sertich had criticized Pawlenty for not working with legislators.

Pawlenty’s spokesman complained that Sertich went public with the conversation, but he did not deny the call took place.

“When speaking with Rep. Sertich, no one on our staff linked projects in the bonding bill to any comments made regarding the relative value of cheap shots,” spokesman Brian McClung said.

McClung appeared upset that Sertich talked about the call.

...

“This was not a threat against me,” he said. “It was a threat to veto projects. … He takes it out on the people of northern Minnesota.”

Sertich said he thought Pawlenty singled him out because Minnesota Public Radio quoted him as criticizing the governor about being not engaged in the legislative process. Those comments followed a report spelling out Pawlenty’s frequent out-of-state trips.

The bonding projects in question were all in Sertich's district. Confidential to John McCain: Pick Pawlenty as your VP candidate ... we need to get him out this state.

Final take on Clooney/Zellweger visit

I'll let yesterday's George Clooney/Renee Zellweger Duluth visit go after this, but here is the morning edition story from the Duluth News-Tribune. My new favorite detail:

There were a few jabs in the news conference about the city’s size. Northland NewsCenter News Director Barbara Reyelts introduced herself as being from the city’s NBC and CBS affiliates, to which Clooney responded, “Now that’s a small town. I’m the priest and the heart surgeon.”

Ha! Media consolidation makes us look small time! How you like them apples, NewsCenter? You better go run a promo for your 28 daily news broadcasts that are all the same.

Clooney: "Brrr!"

UPDATE: The closing two graphs of the DNT wrap on the Clooney/Zellweger story seem kind of sad.

After about 40 minutes, when the stars’ handlers declared the time for questions were over, Clooney overruled them and took a question from a Duluth woman in the center of the crowd behind the press. Joan Koski presented the pair with hand-knit wool mittens and thanked them for bringing the city fame.

Clooney and Zellweger stepped outside to greet fans around 12:15 p.m. and left the Depot around 12:30 p.m., 30 minutes ahead of their scheduled public appearance.

Wanna stick around, George? Renee? Have a beer? Guys? Oh, OK. I see, well, bye then. Enjoy the mittens.

FROM EARLIER: The quick poll voters on this site proved to be prophetic indeed. The first comment from a famous person in today's Clooney/Zelleweger press conference in Duluth was about: THE COLD.

BREAKING: Zellweger plans to look at harbor later. She'd better not be lying about that!!!! We're not to be trifled with!

From the live updates at the Duluth News-Tribune:

Clooney, Zellweger begin press conference
Duluth News Tribune

11 a.m.: George Clooney and Rene Zwelleger are answering questions at their 11 a.m. news conference.

One of the first questions was about the role of the historic Duluth Eskimos and the city of Duluth.

“We thought about shooting here but it was in February,” Clooney said. “What I hear it’s cold in February so we had to find somewhere warmer.”

Clooney said they wanted to call the Leatherheads’ team the Eskimos but the National Football League said the filmmakers couldn’t use the name because there was drinking in the movie. He said he had a couple of bulldogs so that’s where the team came from. Then he found out about the University of Minnesota Duluth mascot.

“Congratulations to the Lady Bulldogs,” Clooney said in a nod to the UMD women’s hockey team, which won the NCAA’s Division I championship in Duluth on Saturday.

Asked about her impression of Duluth, Zellweger said she hadn’t had much time to look around and she planned to check out the harbor later.

Zellweger said she had a lot of fun shooting "Leatherheads."

“I did go to work early a lot,” she said. “I’d sit on the sidelines and watch these guys throw the pigskin around. Not a bad day at work.”

Clooney and Zellweger said they appreciated the fans who had stood outside the Depot in the cold to seem them.

Clooney joked that he hears comments like “You don’t look so good up close” or “You look older.”

Help Wanted?

The Duluth News-Tribune has a story today about the estimated number of needed construction workers for the proposed mining projects on the Iron Range.

I'm tired of these stories. I want to see financial close and shovels in the ground before I dance a jig for developers.

Mining plans require thousands of workers
Jane Brissett, Duluth News Tribune

Thousands of construction jobs will be needed for copper, nickel and other metal mining on the Iron Range if those projects come to pass, representatives of three of the companies told a meeting of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota in Duluth on Thursday.

Three companies — Franconia Minerals Corp., Duluth Metals and PolyMet Mining — will need more than 2,200 construction workers if they go ahead with full-scale production of copper, nickel, platinum, cobalt, silver, gold and palladium, speakers said at a lunchtime presentation at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.

Another blow to local news coverage in northern Minnesota

The Duluth News-Tribune, northern Minnesota's largest newspaper, announced 10-15 percent job cuts in all its departments yesterday. This will mean cuts in the newsroom, further diminishing their ability to cover the paper's large two-state readership area. Based on the recent departure of their Iron Range reporter, I infer this will mean reduced coverage of Iron Range news and politics. The DNT will have to cut back their coverage of local news in general, which will lead to a smaller readership and additional job cuts in the future. (That last part wasn't in the story; I'm just saving everyone the time involved in pretending that the traditional journalism industry will ever get better).

Here's WDIO's story by Cassie Limpert:

There is a shake-up at the Duluth News Tribune. The Duluth newspaper is ownsizing, and will do it by cutting staff as much as 10 to 15 percent. Union members of the newspaper staff got a memo today, alerting them of the company's intention.

The memo says the company needs to cut workers because of falling revenue, and to offset the problem, the company will first offer voluntary buy-outs. Then, if necessary, they'll resort to layoffs.

According to the President of the Lake Superior Newspaper Guild, the memo was sent to 140 of its members at the Tribune, warning them that the troubles seen at other newspapers are about to hit home.

Steve McLister, Publisher of the Duluth News Tribune, says the paper has about 220 employees. He says between fifteen and thirty employees could be cut.

Union President Peter Passi, also an employee at the Duluth News Tribune, says they learned of the cutbacks yesterday during contract negotiations. He says he is unaware of an exact timeline, but buyouts could begin in as little as two weeks.

McLister told Eyewitness News that the cutbacks won't just effect Guild members; they could happen anywhere in the building.

Passi says many of the union members were surprised at the news, particularly at how many employees the company wants to cut. He says they're already tightly staffed. He hopes enough employees will accept the buyout offers, so there won't have to be any layoffs.

Forum Communications, which owns the newspaper, did not return calls for comment.

I am a cooking fraud, but no one is calling me on it ... yet

Sometimes in life, strange opportunities will come your way. My philosophy is to always embrace them, no matter how bizarre. This strategy is the only possible explanation for why I will appear on a cooking show this weekend and was featured in the "Taste" section of the March 27 Duluth News-Tribune.

A couple weeks ago I recorded a segment where I share the late Beatty Zimmerman's fudge bar recipe with the viewing audience of the WDSE "Cooks" program (PBS, Channel 8 in northern Minnesota). The segment is entitled "C is for Comfort Food." Who is Beatty Zimmerman? None other than the mother of one Robert Zimmerman, known to the world as Bob Dylan.

I'll share more about this experience in a future post, but read today's article by Candace Renalls for a "taste" of why I was there.

Check out this quote, where I show how out of touch with cooking I am:

For Aaron Brown of Bovey, comfort food is Kraft macaroni and cheese, just like he had with hot dogs as a boy. “Not the good homemade stuff,” he said of his preferred macaroni and cheese, “but the cheap stuff from the store.”

I talked to a real cook today, someone who tries hard to achieve glory in the kitchen, and she practically wept that I was profiled in "Taste."

Ha! I'm a fraud and I'm getting away with it!

PS: I've already gotten one comment on this blog from someone who said they liked the "Bob Dylan fudge bars." Let me know if anyone else tried it. As inept as I am in the kitchen, these bars are pretty simple and good.

UPDATE (sort of) on smoking ban loophole

I see Duluth News-Tribune columnist Jim Heffernan has already written a humor column about the "theater loophole" in the Minnesota smoking ban now being used by northern Minnesota bars. Fortunately, the piece I'm working on takes a different angle. Good thing, because Heffernan is phoning his columns in from Florida and I'm within a smoke cloud of the controversy. I wouldn't want to be scooped under those circumstances, at least more than I already have been.

Smoky logic abounds in bar theater scheme

During last year's debate about the statewide workplace smoking ban in the Minnesota legislature, I kept asking, "why, oh why, does the Iron Range have to strike this pose again?" Here we are, a land of change-resistant Don Quixotes who howl at the moon to keep smoking rights but snooze when public dollars are funneled to shady deals or when schools continue to suffer in our own backyards.

Everyone capable of objective thought familiar with the political makeup of the state knew that the ban would pass and be signed into law, and that indoor smoking is a recognized health risk that has been outlawed in public buildings in some cases for decades. But our Range leaders insisted on making a stand based on libertarian grounds. They had their reasons. One Range lawmaker told me that he got dozens of constituent calls about the smoking ban but only one or two about schools throughout the entire 2007 session. Bar culture is big on the Range, and bar people like to smoke.

The ban passed mightily and the Range had the dual honor of not only losing "our" fight, but appearing backward to the state at large. Today, most restaurants are doing fine. Bar/restaurants in particular are doing great, by all accounts I've heard. Small town bars are, however, suffering a little or a lot. But studies show that the first year after a smoking ban is hard but gives way to better years as people realize how much they miss drinking in public.

Now we return to the topic in 2008 as another group of Don Quixotes try to ram through a loophole in the law regarding the use of cigarettes in theatrical productions. See, you're allowed to light a cigarette indoors if it's for a play that calls for smoking. So a Minnesota attorney, Mark Benjamin, is encouraging bars to hold "Tobacco Monologues," or hastily produced "plays" that last all night and include everyone who wishes to smoke in the bar. A joint in Hill City was the first northern town to try it and now bars across the Range are adopting the idea, including the Sports Palace in Virginia as detailed in this Janna Goerdt story from the Duluth News-Tribune.

Benjamin and bar owners are acting pretty glib about their great idea, but this movement will only serve to close the theater loophole, which will not only leave them in the same spot but ruin future productions of "12 Angry Men" for the rest of us.

Here are my initial reactions to some of the arguments:

1) This debate isn't about the right to smoke, which you have, but the right to smoke in a public place governed by health codes. That right, if it ever officially existed, no longer exists. Workplace smoking bans are becoming standard in the industrialized world.

2) I'm sorry that casinos are not subject to the smoking ban. They should be, but they are governed by different laws. I have to believe that the number of people from Virginia or Eveleth to Fortune Bay just to smoke indoors while drinking is overstated.

3) Give it time. I know I am not at financial risk by saying that, but smoking bans have taken time to become part of the culture in other places and will here too. Meantime, any business that is to survive long term must find ways to adjust to change. Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who never went to bars in part because of the smoke are available as potential new customers. What are you doing to get them to patronize your bar? (Hint: bad theater and additional smoke won't work).

This is the ongoing subject for my newspaper column in progress for this upcoming Sunday so by all means enlighten me if you have thoughts.

Virginia bar joins the cast of taverns using smoking ban loophole
By Janna Goerdt, Duluth News-Tribune

VIRGINIA — Smokers were standing outside of many bars on Virginia’s main street Friday night, enjoying cigarettes in the cool air.

But the sidewalk in front of the Queen City Sports Palace was conspicuously empty — because the smokers there were smoking inside.

As of Thursday, the Sports Palace was one of the latest Minnesota bars to hop on the path to legal indoor smoking.

A quirk in Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act, which bans smoking in most public workplaces, allows for smoking in theatrical productions. Today, a growing number of bars are following the lead of Cambridge, Minn., lawyer Mark Benjamin and staging tongue-in-cheek plays, with bar patrons as actors and actresses.

“I’m not breaking any laws,” Sports Palace owner Doug Foschi said. He ran the idea past the Virginia city attorney, who could find no reason why Foschi couldn’t stage “The Tobacco Monologues.” And so the play has gone on from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. every night, and Foschi plans to keep it going.

Aside from an occasional arm flourish, there was plenty of smoking but seemed to be little acting going on among the festive crowd at the Sports Palace on Friday night. Bartenders passed out small yellow stickers for those who wanted to participate in the play, and about half of the patrons wore them.

“OK, I’ll quote Scarlett O’Hara,” said Virginia resident Robin Cronk, who was enjoying the chance to smoke in a bar again. “As God is my witness, I’ll never go into a bar without a cigarette again!”

Kudos, but thanks/no thanks, to Range cloth diaper company

A couple from Britt (part of the wooded wonderland just north of the Mesabi iron formation) is making a name for themselves as owners of an online cloth diaper company. Read the story in today's Duluth News-Tribune. Since my house is full of babies, the story stood out to me. Good for them. We opted out of cloth diapers at our house because we aren't convinced that the laundry's energy use is better for the environment than the disposable diapers. Also, once the turd hits that diaper we really don't want to handle it. Seriously, those things aren't like cupcakes. Some of them are real horror stories. We have three boys in diapers currently, though, so maybe that skews my thinking.

DNT: Locals, 'outsiders' equally to blame for Duluth crime

The Duluth News-Tribune is running a fascinating series on the social impact of "outsiders" in Duluth. Talk to most Duluth folks (or Range folks, for that matter) and they'll tell you that those darn "outsiders" cause most of the problems (crime, drugs, welfare fraud, etc.) in their area. The DNT did some investigative reporting and found that outsiders are no more responsible for these problems than locals. They are merely different, identifiable and thus, easy to blame.

Read the story on crime in Duluth, then click around http://www.duluthnewstribune/ and read the rest of the series:

Of 786 charged felonies in Duluth in 2007, the News Tribune was able to track the driver’s license addresses for 720 of the suspects. Of those, 639 — or 89 percent — listed Northland cities and towns as their primary address. Only 54
-- 7.5 percent — had licenses from out of state.

So why do some people say that the crime problem in Duluth is caused by “other people’’ who come here from somewhere else?

Fred Friedman heads the Northeastern Minnesota public defender’s office and provides attorneys to people charged with crimes who can’t afford to pay for an attorney. He didn’t hesitate to respond when asked why there is a perception that outsiders bring so much crime to Duluth.

“Race,’’ he said. “When TV or the newspaper shows a picture of a white person who is a suspect, nobody remembers it. When they show a picture of a black person who is a suspect, people remember it. The perception is not about people coming from other cities; it’s about race.’’

Friedman acknowledges that more of his clients than he would like commit violent crimes shortly after arriving here, but he said it isn’t a high percentage, and that perception is more a myth than a reality.

And before you think I'm being too positive about the DNT, let me add this. Screw you guys for downsizing your coverage of the Iron Range.

See, I'm all about equal time.